frolic

English

WOTD – 2 October 2007

Alternative forms

• frolick

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Dutch vrolijk (“cheerful”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle Dutch vrolijc, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old Dutch frōlīk, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Germanic *frawalīkaz. Compare German fröhlich (“blitheful, gaily, happy, merry”).

The first element, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *frawaz, is cognate with Middle English frow ("hasty"); the latter element, ultimately from *-līkaz, is cognate with -ly, -like.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈfɹɒlɪk/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈfɹɑːlɪk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒlɪk

Adjective

frolic (comparative more frolic, superlative most frolic)

1. (now rare) Merry, joyous, full of mirth; later especially, frolicsome, sportive, full of playful mischief. [from 1530s]
   • 1645, John Milton, “L’Allegro” in Poems, London: Humphrey Moseley, p. 31,^[1]

     The frolick wind that breathes the Spring,

     Zephyr with Aurora playing,

     As he met her once a Maying

     There on Beds of Violets blew,

   • 1682, Edmund Waller, “Of Love” in Poems, &c. written upon several occasions, and to several persons, London: H. Herringman, 5th edition, 1686, p. 73,^[2]

     For women, born to be controul’d,

     Stoop to the forward and the bold,

     Affect the haughty and the proud,

     The gay, the frollick, and the loud.

   • 1766, Joseph Addison, The Spectator - Volume 5 - Page 304:

     You meet him at the tables and conversations of the wise, the impertinent, the grave, the frolic, and the witty; [...]

   • 1897, Henry James, What Maisie Knew:

     Beale, under this frolic menace, took nothing back at all; he was indeed apparently on the point of repeating his extravagence, but Miss Overmore instructed her little charge that she was not to listen to his bad jokes [...].

2. (obsolete, rare) Free; liberal; bountiful; generous.

Verb

1. (intransitive) To make merry; to have fun; to romp; to behave playfully and uninhibitedly. [from 1580s]

   We saw the lambs frolicking in the meadow.

2. (transitive, archaic) To cause to be merry.

Inflection

Conjugation of frolic

infinitive	(to) frolic
	present tense	past tense
1st-person singular	frolic	froliced
2nd-person singular
3rd-person singular	frolics
plural	frolic
subjunctive	frolic	froliced
imperative	frolic	—
participles	frolicing	froliced

Derived terms

• rollick

Translations

behave playfully and uninhibitedly

• Bulgarian: лудувам (bg) (luduvam)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 嫐 (zh) (nǎo)

• Dutch: plezier maken, dollen (nl), pret maken, keten (nl), rollebollen (nl)
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Estonian: vallatlema
• Finnish: temmeltää, kisailla (fi), ilotella (fi), karkeloida
• French: folâtrer (fr)
• Galician: troulear (gl)
• German: scherzen (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Greek:

  Ancient: σκιρτάω (skirtáō)

• Italian: scherzare (it)
• Japanese: 浮かれ騒ぐ (うかれさわぐ, ukare sawagu)
• Maori: pepe, tākarokaro, pūhoru (in water), tuapa, tākarokaro
• Polish: baraszkować, dokazywać, figlować, swawolić
• Portuguese: retouçar (pt)
• Russian: резви́ться (ru) (rezvítʹsja), прока́зничать (ru) (prokázničatʹ)
• Spanish: juguetear (es), retozar (es)
• Swedish: leka (sv)

Noun

frolic (plural frolics)

1. Gaiety; merriment. [from 1610s]
   • 1832-1888, Louisa May Alcott

     the annual jubilee […] filled the souls of old and young with visions of splendour, frolic and fun.

   • 2012 (original 1860), Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Marble Faun - Page 276:

     By the old-fashioned magnificence of this procession, it might worthily have included his Holiness in person, with a suite of attendant Cardinals, if those sacred dignitaries would kindly have lent their aid to heighten the frolic of the Carnival.

2. A playful antic.
   • (Can we date this quote by Roscommon and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     He would be at his frolic once again.

3. (obsolete, chiefly US) A social gathering.
   • 1820, Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow:

     He came clattering up to the school door with an invitation to Ichabod to attend a merry-making or “quilting frolic,” to be held that evening at Mynheer Van Tassel’s

Translations

gaiety; merriment

• Bulgarian: веселие (bg) n (veselie), веселба (bg) f (veselba)
• Galician: troula (gl) f
• Italian: burla (it) f, beffa (it) f, allegria (it) f, gaiezza (it) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: festejo (pt) m
• Russian: весе́лье (ru) n (vesélʹje)
• Spanish: jugueteo (es) m

playful antic

• Bulgarian: лудория (bg) f (ludorija)
• Estonian: vallatlemine
• Finnish: temmellys, kisailu (fi)
• Galician: troula (gl) f
• German: Scherz (de) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: buffonata (it) f
• Maori: tuapa
• Portuguese: gracejo (pt) m
• Spanish: juguetear (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} お祭り騒ぎ (おまつりさわぎ, omatsuri sawagi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

See also

• cavort

Related terms

• frolicsome

References

• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “frolic”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.